Jesse's Good News

Jesse has always been a person who likes to help people and he has always enjoyed working with kids. He worked with Big Brothers Big Sister, ran after school programs, and helped educate the youth on substance and alcohol abuse. Jesse and I finally decided that becoming a teacher would be fulfilling his dreams even though the pay for teachers is much less than it should be. So last year Jesse began working on his Masters in Secondary Education to become certified to teach high school. His dream was to teach high school course such as English or history and coach the school's football team.

Recently, Jesse has been doing his observation hours at a high school here in the valley. The school is a charter high school that focuses on graduation and getting kids accepted into college. South Ridge is a small high school that has a 100% college acceptance rate. The organization that runs the schools opens schools in areas of the city where graduation rates are low and college acceptance is even lower. They work with the kids in a rigorous program to help prepare the kids for college and beyond.

Jesse began observing the English class and helping out with the football team. I've never seen Jesse so happy to be doing what he loves to do. He came home every day after observing or working with the football team with many stories and I could see the excitement in his eyes. This week he learned that one of the English teachers quit or was fired during the fall break and the school had the opening to fill.

Charter schools do not need to employ certified teachers although they prefer to hire certified teachers. Jesse's certification will be complete this spring after he finishes the remainder of his classes and does his student teaching. Well the curriculum coach liked Jesse and said that if Jesse passed his English proficiency test (which he took last month) then they were interested in hiring him. Jesse got his test results yesterday and he passed so the school called him in right away for an interview. The interview went well and they offered him the position. So Jesse starts teaching Freshman, Junior, and Senior English on Monday morning. He is very excited and very nervous at the same time. We are going to take a pay cut for him to work there but if he adds an extra class period to his schedule next quarter and works summer school, he will be making more money than he is now at University of Phoenix.

We are very happy for Jesse and we hope he does a great job getting used to his students and teaching.